Kids of Heart
by Teh Drama Llama
Summary: When on tour, relations between band members often become strained. How will the relationships between the Kids of Heart fare during their first ever headline tour? Modern multi-chap AU, T for language and implied slash.
1. Day One: O2 Academy Brixton

**Kids of Heart – Chapter 1**

**A/N: **Hey, look at that, another KLaw fanfic! You'd never have guessed that they're currently my favourite pairing, would you? This was originally just going to be a one-shot, but I've had some awesome plot ideas, so instead this will turn out to be a multi-chapter fic. I'm really excited to be writing again, school's been kicking my ass, so it'll be nice to get the ball rolling again. I'm still unsure as to how this fic will pan out, so any and all feedback on this fic idea would be greatly appreciated, and might even prompt me to write faster!

**Warning: **Strong language from the beginning, eventual malexmale, later chapters shall be rated 'M'.

**Disclaimer: **Characters belong to Oda, and the song lyrics used belong to The Blackout and their record label. You should check 'em out, they're a quality band.

**O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON – 1****ST**** SEPTEMBER 2012**

"_We're taking it, tonight! You got me burning like fire! No faking it, we'll come alive; let's take this higher and higher!"_

Trafalgar Law's lyrics sent the crowd into a frenzy as they all cheered for the encore, the audience's screaming barely audible over the thundering of Luffy D's drums, Samurai Z's lead guitar, Massacre Man's rhythm guitar and Eustass Kidd's pounding bass.

"_DJ B, bring it on!"_

Law turned to point to Bepo up in the DJ pit, and as he hit the decks the crowd went even more insane, if that was even possible.

"_Now I wanna hear you motherfuckers ROAR!"_

The singer's request was happily met by the audience who went absolutely crazy, however the band weren't letting up, their music pounding so hard that the stage floor was buzzing with the vibrations. The encore ended, all six members of the band receiving their standing ovations as they bowed to the crowd.

"_Man you guys are batshit crazy! We've been Kids of Heart; you've been a fucking amazing audience, thank you and goodnight!"_

And with that declaration Kidd, Samurai and Massacre threw their picks into the crowd, Luffy D's drumsticks following shortly after, and after a particularly loud request from a group of girls resting on the barriers at the front of the crowd, Law pulled off his signature yellow and black hoodie, throwing it in their direction and waving to the crowd as he followed the rest of the band off stage, being drawn into a group huddle out of the way of the stagehands.

"That was amazing; probably the best crowd we've ever played!" Bepo said with a grin, his hands shaking with the excitement. Luffy nodded enthusiastically in agreement as he jumped up and down, the excitement preventing him from standing still.

"Very receptive, I definitely didn't expect anyone to actually start sprinting from the back of the venue to the front again." Killer added, grin on his face.

"Did you really have to take your hoodie off though, Law? You're such a man whore!" Zoro smirked, flicking Law teasingly in the centre of his now bared chest.

"If it keeps the girls coming back to concerts, why not? Besides, it's hot as fuck up there, and Kidd doesn't even bother with a shirt!"

"That's what I've always done. You're just doing it for fanservice." Kidd spoke up for the first time, rolling his eyes as Law gave him the finger.

"Right, guys, break it up! The venue people want us out so they can start clearing up, so get your junk from backstage and we'll regroup in the van." A new voice spoke behind the band, someone they didn't even need to see to know who it was. Stood with his arms crossed over his chest, with his foot tapping against the linoleum floor (mostly due to impatience, but also partially because he hadn't had a cigarette for a few hours) was Sanji, the band's PA, manager, tour supervisor, publicity manager and pretty much every other administrative title you could think of. Sanji did it all, and considering how many responsibilities he had it was astounding the way he managed to keep himself collected and get everything done to such a brilliant standard. It wasn't surprising that he smoked like a chimney; as he himself liked to put it, "If you had to run around after a rapcore band made up of a bunch of rowdy 20-somethings, you'd be stressed too."

Big grins still on their faces, the Kids of Heart disbanded the group huddle, and were hurried through to their dressing room to collect the paraphernalia left floating around. (Except for the slice of pizza Luffy had left draped over a lampshade in his haste to get on stage. That could stay.) They gave their thanks to the lighting and sound crew, posed for a couple of publicity photos, and finally headed to leave the venue. Straight away they were bombarded with fans, screaming emo girls and hyperactive grunge guys surging forward to try and get a picture or an autograph, or even just touch a member of the band that they admired so much. Thankfully, the venue's beefy security guy, going by the name of Urouge, left the building in front of them and made quick work of parting the crowd and making a pathway to the band's tour van. The band followed Urouge closely, and after a couple of words of thanks they all jumped into the back of the van, to avoid being crushed by the weight of fans behind them.

~x~

Finally, after an issue with a crazy fangirl who decided to climb on the roof of the van and cling on for dear life, the band were on the road. Though their van was pretty small for six band members, a driver and their manager, the entire back of the vehicle had been ripped out and replaced with a circle of comfortable, reclining seats, and plenty of space for their personal stuff. All of their instruments and sound equipment were in the van with the techies, which left as soon as the band had gotten off stage and their instruments and equipment had been collected. Sanji smacked his hand against the side of the van a couple of times to get the attention of the Kids of Heart, before a grin spread across his face.

"Nicely done tonight, guys. The crowd was really into it, which helped a lot, but your performance was pretty damn good for an opening night, and I've seen more opening nights than I've smoked cigarettes." Sanji sat back in his seat, looking on like a proud Dad as the band members exchanged fist-bumps and high-fives. "Only issue I noticed with the performance is Luffy, your drumming went a bit out of rhythm in _We're Going to Hell…So Bring the Sunblock_, I know you like doing your own thing, but save the experimentation for the studio, yeah?"

"Ugh, fiiiiiiiine." Luffy groaned, flopping backwards and letting his arms hang on either side of his seat, so he looked like a plasticine model that had started to melt. Sanji almost felt bad that he'd had to rain on the drummer's parade, but in the end the Kids of Heart were a band, and if they didn't plan in sync everything would simply fall apart.

"I don't think the crowd really noticed…" Bepo said quietly, patting Luffy's shoulder in an attempt to cheer him up.

"Probably not, but let's not make a habit of it. Otherwise, your stage presence was great. Throwing your hoodie into the crowd was a nice touch, Law, but don't do it too often, I don't want to blow our budget on buying you replacement clothes." Sanji smirked as Law gave him the finger and shook his head, before unlocking his iPad and flicking through documents before he found the information he wanted. "Right then. Tomorrow we're at the Roundhouse, which means we don't have much of a commute tonight; in fact we should get to our hotel in about…" Sanji paused to check his watch, "…15 minutes."

And, sure enough, a quarter of an hour later the Kids of Heart tour van pulled up outside of a Travelodge, the band's home for the night. After a final round of congratulations on their first performance, Sanji herded everybody through check-in, handing out room keys as each member passed and directing them to their rooms. Then, satisfied that the tour vans were safely parked and hidden away from the public eye, and that the techies had also been given their room keys, the exhausted manager finally got to collapse onto his hotel bed, slipping into a deep sleep straight away. At the back of his mind Sanji wondered how he'd cope for the rest of the fifteen-date tour if he was already this tired by the first night, but he let the thought go; as long as he had coffee and cigarettes, he was sure he'd manage well enough.


	2. Day Two: Roundhouse London

**Kids of Heart – Chapter 2**

**A/N: **Wow. I didn't expect to be writing this so soon! It's amazing what a weekend with no internet access can do to your motivation, isn't it? Also, because I didn't make it clear in the first A/N, this fic is going to have more than one main pairing, aka another pairing aside from KLaw. Check out my profile for a bit more info. :)

**Warning: **Strong language from the beginning, eventual malexmale, later chapters shall be rated 'M'.

**Disclaimer: **Characters belong to Oda, and the song lyrics used belong to The Blackout and their record label. You should check 'em out, they're a quality band.

**ROUNDHOUSE LONDON – 2****ND**** SEPTEMBER 2012**

Sanji paced the lobby of the hotel they'd stayed in last night, an unlit cigarette clamped between his lips due to the 'no smoking' signs around them. The phone he held to his ear was ringing, but as soon as it went to voicemail for a sixth time the blonde angrily stuffed it back into his pocket, raking his hands through his hair.

"Where the hell is that rubber-brained idiot?" Sanji half-shouted, exasperated, wringing his hands in substitute for the nicotine he was craving so badly right now. Once the Kids of Heart had finished their sound check Sanji had gathered up the band, only to realise that Luffy was missing. Everyone had piled into the van and headed back to the hotel to see if their drummer had returned to his room, but when it was established that Luffy hadn't checked back in, Sanji had started the frantic pacing and constant calling of the other's mobile phone, so far without success.

"I-I'm sure he'll be back soon!" Bepo nervously piped up, looking around at the rest of the band (minus Luffy) for confirmation, and looking down at his shoes when he realised that everyone else was feeling as worried as Sanji.

"I specifically told him not to wander off! We're on stage in an hour, what the hell could be more important than performing?"

"I think I know the answer to that one." Zoro spoke up for the first time since the sound check, and Sanji turned to him with an incredulous 'well-why-didn't-you-say-so-before-you-big-dolt' look, before gesturing out of the hotel doors.

"Then go find him! And make sure you've got the GPS tracker on your phone online, I don't want you getting lost as well."

Zoro gave Sanji the finger before heading off, murmurs of, "My sense of direction isn't _that_ bad." causing the rest of the band to share a laugh, in spite of the grave situation. With nothing else for him to possibly do, Sanji surrendered to his cravings and stepped outside into the chilly evening air, lighting the cigarette that had been clamped between his lips since they'd arrived back at the hotel and taking a deep drag. Sometimes it frustrated him that he was so dependent on the little white sticks, but the blonde figured that, in this sort of ridiculous situation, you were allowed to go a bit crazy with the nicotine.

~x~

Kidd, Law, Killer and Bepo sat anxiously in the lobby of their hotel, eagerly awaiting the return of their band mates. For them, performance wasn't an option without all of the band members present, and though they knew it would look bad if they cancelled a gig so early into a tour, they weren't even going to consider hitting the stage without Luffy and Zoro back.

"Trust Zoro to leave without telling any of us where he was going. We all know how directionally challenged he is." Killer said with a roll of his eyes; he and Zoro had known each other for the shortest amount of time, so were still not quite acquainted with each other's quirks.

"You know those two; Zoro and Luffy have known each other since secondary school, they even had their own band for a while before joining Kids. If anyone was going to find him, it'd be Zoro." Law shrugged.

"Heh, they probably share the same brain cells or something, that's why they always know what the other one's doing." Kidd added with a smirk, his joke earning him a couple of half-hearted laughs and a raised eyebrow from Law before he slumped back in his chair, defeated. Apparently now wasn't the right time to be making jokes.

"Don't you think we should be helping? If we found Luffy before Zoro did we'd be able to save a load of time!" Bepo piped up, making to get up and leave his seat before Law's tattooed arm pulled him back into the armchair.

"I doubt organising a search party would get us anywhere, Bepo."

"I doubt Sanji would even let us leave the hotel, did you see how much he was freaking out just now?" Kidd added.

"Plus he's on his third consecutive cigarette, Sanji chain smoking is always a bad sign." Law gestured out of the lobby's large glass doors, the rest of the band turning to see their manager pacing anxiously to and fro, switching his attention between his phone and his cigarette rapidly (A mildly disconcerting sight to the other guests, who had to weave around him in order to enter the hotel).

"Well, why don't we just keep trying to phone him? He's gotta answer it eventually!" Bepo suggested, sliding his phone from his pocket as he spoke.

"…That could actually work." Killer pointed out, looking around the rest of the group for confirmation. "Let's take it in turns calling, save the phone bills." And at that, Law, Kidd and Killer pulled out their mobiles, watching anxiously as Bepo put his own phone to his ear.

~x~

Fifteen minutes and six cigarettes later, Sanji felt his phone vibrating in his jean pocket, tossing his smoke into the ashtray in his haste to answer the call from Zoro, as his caller ID confirmed.

"Have you found him?"

"I've got him, chill out. He was hungry and went to that big steak restaurant around the corner from the venue."

"So you're at the venue now?"

"Yeah, we're waiting backstage. I'd get over here quickly if I were you; we go onstage in like, half an hour."

"I know, I know." Sanji headed back into the lobby, motioning for the rest of the band (who had combined their efforts and attempted to phone Luffy a total of 87 times) to get in the van, sharpish. "We're getting in the van now; should be there in about ten minutes."

"Cool." Zoro hung up, causing Sanji to frown at his phone in annoyance before shrugging, pocketing his mobile, and climbing in the back of the van.

~x~

After arriving at the venue with fifteen minutes to spare, Sanji gave Luffy the biggest arse-kicking he'd ever experienced before the band got on stage and performed a flawless show. Once they'd practically had to fight their way back to the tour band through the crushing crowd of fans, the blonde gathered everybody's attention for the post-show pep talk.

"Right, we're establishing a new ground rule: the entire band sticks together between the sound check and show. I am not going through that stress again, and yes Luffy, I'm talking to you." Luffy's frown was so large he almost looked like a cartoon character, but he said nothing, as if remembering the beating up he'd received earlier. "Don't act all mopey, if it wasn't for moss head over here –" He gestured vaguely in Zoro's direction, who gave him the finger again, " – You wouldn't have got on stage on time, which would kill your reputation so early on in the tour. So, Zoro, I owe you one."

"I'll hold you to that, curly-brow."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Aside from the obvious your entire performance was brilliant, well done to all of you. I especially liked the dual guitar harmonies, Zoro and Killer, that was nicely done; plus it hid the fact that the sound had started to act up on Law's mic.

"Our next date is in Glasgow, but if we set off now we'll get there really early in the morning, which would mess up our timetable. So we'll be sleeping at the same hotel as last night, but in different rooms, which is why you all had to re-pack your stuff this morning." Sanji unlocked his iPad once again, running his eyes over the various documents to ensure he'd got everything correct.

"Now, tomorrow's gonna be a pretty tough trek, so I advise you spend this evening kicking back. We're not leaving until 10AM tomorrow morning, so as long as you don't go too crazy, I have it on good authority that the hotel bar is well stocked and the bar staff extremely capable." At the mention of the bar the entire band started to cheer. For the first couple of dates it's essential that the Kids of Heart were as focused as possible on stage, so that meant strictly no alcohol. But now that they could afford to relax a little, they were definitely going to make the most of the opportunity; something which Sanji realised with more than a little trepidation.

~x~

Sanji sat at a table near the back of the bar area, absent-mindedly handing room keys to each band member who passed on their way to their hotel rooms. It wasn't that he didn't trust the band with their own room keys – actually, scratch that, he didn't trust the band with their room keys _at all_, especially as they had been drinking for the best part of two hours, hence why he had to sit and babysit until everyone else had gone to bed. Eventually the blonde handed out the last key, groaning with relief as he went to grab his own key and head to bed, and realising with a start that he didn't have one. _Brilliant. Absolutely fucking brilliant._

After battling with the reception staff for twenty minutes, who insisted that he had only booked six rooms rather than seven and failed to find him an emergency room for the night, Sanji gave up and hit the stairs, pulling his luggage behind him in search of room 218, the only double room the hotel had actually managed to book correctly. Knocking on the door, Sanji hoped that he wouldn't be stuck in a room with Luffy or Bepo; not that he didn't like them or anything, but Luffy was always overly hyperactive after drinking, and Bepo very rarely said a word unless in Law's presence. He attempted to smile as the door opened, and held in a sigh of relief as Zoro poked his head outside.

"Sanji? What do you want?" The guitarist asked, leaning against the door.

"Charming as ever, moss head. The hotel messed up the room booking and yours is the only double, I need to crash with you." He replied snappily, wheeling his luggage into the room behind him as Zoro stood aside to let him pass. "I didn't particularly want to spend my night with your drunk ass, so I'm gonna hate this as much as you will."

"Oi! I'm not drunk, you know." Zoro said, annoyance in his voice as he closed the door and sat down on his bed. Sanji raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"I watched you down at least six bottles of Stella! If you're not drunk then I should send you to a lab, 'cause you're a miracle of science or something."

"Maybe I just have a high tolerance for alcohol, ever think of that?"

"…Whatever. I don't know about you, but I'm absolutely exhausted. If you snore, you're sleeping in the bath." Sanji entered the en suite bathroom, speaking through the half open door as he changed, washed and got ready to hit the hay.

"I could say the same for you, curly-eyebrow." Zoro retorted, changed and lying in bed by the time Sanji exited the bathroom in a pair of loose tracksuit bottoms, dumping his clothes on a chair before flopping into bed.

"Worst insult ever. Night." The blonde's response was muffled by his pillow, and though he thought he heard a response from Zoro, Sanji was too far gone to actually hear it, sliding effortlessly into a deep sleep.

**A/N:** Just as a forewarning, I'm about to be hit with a massive wave of exams and coursework deadlines, so unfortunately I won't be able to update this fic again until late May/early June. Bear with me please!


	3. Day Three: O2 Academy Glasgow

**Kids of Heart – Chapter 3**

**A/N: **THIS CHAPTER TOOK SO LONG TO WRITE. I AM SO SORRY. After my exams I got hit with a whole ton of coursework to prepare for next year's courses, I had a convention to prepare for, I've actually had a social life over the past couple of weeks, and on top of that I was stuck behind the most ridiculous writer's block I've ever experienced. But I'm sure you're not interested in my excuses, so I'll just reiterate that I AM SO SORRY FOR KEEPING YOU WAITING, and I hope the next update doesn't take so bloody long to put out.

**Warning: **Strong language from the beginning, eventual malexmale, later chapters shall be rated 'M'.

**Disclaimer: **Characters belong to Oda, and the song lyrics used belong to The Blackout and their record label. You should check 'em out, they're a quality band.

**O2 ACADEMY GLASGOW – 3****rd**** SEPTEMBER 2012**

Kidd unceremoniously flopped into a seat at the back of the tour van, pressing his eyes shut to block out the early morning sunshine. He, as well as the rest of the band, had hit the hotel bar pretty hard the previous night, and now at seven o'clock the next morning he was kinda wishing he'd just gone to bed. But where would the fun in that be? Thankfully, the other band members were in the same boat as him; Kidd wasn't certain he could hack being in a small vehicle with a hyperactive Luffy, so he breathed a sigh of relief when their drummer dropped into his seat and promptly fell asleep, snoring loudly.

Finally the rest of the band, plus an annoyingly fresh and awake-looking Sanji, emerged from their hotel rooms, and the van was ready to go. Kidd was ready to sleep the journey away but their manager had other ideas, clapping his hands to gain the attention of any band members still conscious.

"Is this announcement _really_ so important that it can't wait until we get to Glasgow?" Kidd whined, putting on his sunglasses to protect his eyes from any stray rays of elusive British sunlight.

"Wow, Eustass, you're literally the human embodiment of 'good morning' today, aren't you?" He heard another voice say from the seat to his left, snapping his head around to see Law, who raised an eyebrow from behind his own sunglasses.

"That's rich, coming from –"

"– Fight it out later, you two. I just wanna get this announcement over with." Sanji cut off the retort at the tip of Kidd's tongue, who scowled before turning his attention back to their manager. "Basically, today we're heading off to Glasgow, which means a seven hour journey. Of course, knowing Luffy's weird travelling habits we'll have to stop off a few times, but we want this trip to go as smoothly as possible. That way we can arrive early for the sound check, and if anyone still needs some recovery time from last night's idiocy they can crash in the hotel for an hour or two." Sanji raised both hands, looking between Kidd and Law. "OK, that's me done, feel free to continue."

At that, Kidd turned back to Law, who also raised both of his hands. "Do we really have to? It looks as if I'm feeling as rough as you are, so we might as well have got Sanji's announcement out of the way before crashing out."

"Backing out of a fight, huh?" Kidd retorted with a smirk, "You never used to do that back in school; has the celebrity lifestyle got to you or something?"

"Back at school I didn't have anything to lose. Now we all do. I can't even remember what we used to fight about half of the time."

"Well for a start, your bad attitude! You were always taking the piss out of us, if I remember correctly. Which I do."

"Oh yes, because you were always the epitome of good manners and class, weren't you?"

"At least if I started a fight it was for a real reason, not just because I felt like it."

"You beat the crap out of that kid, Apoo, because you thought he was looking at you funny!"

"Well, he was! Apoo was always mouthing off and giving me weird looks; he had it coming."

"Methinks Eustass is _way _too paranoid."

"Pfft. As if."

"Anyway," Law started, nostalgic smile on his face, "It was all good fun, wasn't it? At least, it was after Luffy pulled us all together."

"Yeah, I guess so. Say what you like about Luffy, but you can't question his weird ability to attract friends."

"And enemies." Law added.

"Plenty of those too. I mean, he managed to rope Sanji into becoming our manager after he refused, what, at least twenty times."

"More like fifty." Sanji piped in from the other side of the van, before turning his attention back to his iPad, Kidd and Law returning to their conversation, reminiscing times gone by.

~x~

The entire band had attended the same high school, however since they had all been separated into different form groups, they didn't really have any opportunities to actually interact with each other. Of course, there is an exception to every rule, and Luffy was that exception; he took the time to introduce himself to absolutely _everybody_ in the school (teachers, cleaners, canteen workers, admin and support staff included), and though his persistence gained him a fair amount of enemies, the sheer number of friends he'd made were enough to scare anyone off.

After high school and their GCSE's were finished with, the band all moved on to college, having now been placed in most of the same classes. Luffy, being the common link between all of them, brought them together as a group of best mates, and over time the idea of forming Kids of Heart simply became a natural progression of their group dynamic. Of course, not everything went smoothly between them; bringing six completely different people together was always going to cause conflict, but after a couple of fists had been thrown and heated words had been exchanged, Luffy would happily step in as a referee and they would all continue on as if nothing had ever happened.

Eventually, the group decided to drop out of college altogether and concentrate on making the Kids of Heart successful. They took on multiple jobs in order to pay for equipment and book venues, and even managed to scrape together enough money to record their first EP: _The Blackout! The Blackout! The Blackout! _It received very positive reviews, which both gained them a spot in the public eye and interest from various record labels. Before signing, however, the group decided that they needed somebody familiar to manage them, and because Sanji, their former classmate, had already dabbled in band management (having managed a wannabe girl group from their old school for a time), he seemed like the obvious choice; after a huge amount of persuasion from Luffy, he eventually agreed.

They continued working their fingers to the bone, working for virtually nothing so they could afford to purchase new instruments, play larger venues, promote their EP, and secure studio time in order to professionally record their first album, _We Are The Dynamite!, _which firmly thrust them into the limelight as one of Britain's best up-and-coming bands. And now, two albums and five years later, Kids of Heart were headlining their first ever stadium tour in support of their latest record, _Hope. _Of course, the band dynamic continued to have its ups and downs – bringing seven very different personalities to work and tour with each other for months at a time would take its toll on anyone – but even so, they always managed to pull together and make a kick-ass record without too many fights.

~x~

About halfway into the journey Luffy woke up from his slumber with a start, demanding that the van stopped at the nearest service station pronto – unless the band wanted the van to smell of _eau de piss_, that is. Sanji hastily ordered the driver to stop at the next services, and the band were fully awoken from whatever state of consciousness they had been in previously by the sound of their drummer thundering across the car park at top speed, calling, "GOTTA PEE, OUT OF MY WAY!" like a war cry as he went. As they clambered out of the tour van, avoiding the accusatory stares of other tired travellers and commuters, Kidd and Law brought their conversation to a close due to Bepo pushing between them, recapping Law on the bands' various drunken antics he'd missed the night before.

Once the Kids of Heart had regrouped outside the tour van a few minutes later, Sanji reappeared with the keys, opening up the doors and stepping back hastily in order to avoid getting crushed by the rush of band members attempting to enter the van at the same time. Kidd arrived back and hopped into the van just as Sanji was beginning to get impatient, and found to his disappointment that his seat next to Law had been taken by an enthusiastic Bepo. Not wanting to separate the two and cause a fuss Kidd sat in Bepo's usual seat, attempting to avoid the crumbs flying from the all-day breakfast sandwich Luffy was currently devouring. Not in the mood for a conversation with the drummer, Kidd slid on his headphones in order to drown out his chatter with music; if there were longing glances sent in his direction from their vocalist, the redhead was none the wiser.

Kidd must have dosed off during the rest of the journey, as he was awakened what felt like minutes after setting off from the service station by both Luffy's excited chattering and the feeling of being hit in the forehead repeatedly, which turned out to be Law throwing guitar picks at him from the other side of the bus. Shaking drowsiness from his head, the redhead took off his headphones, scowling at the lead singer and giving him the finger.

"What's your problem?" He demanded, unhappy to have been disturbed.

"We're nearly at the venue, sleeping beauty." Law replied simply, shrugging before turning to his phone, body language telling him that he was done with the conversation. Before Kidd could respond he heard the trademark banging on the walls of the van which signalled Sanji had something to say. _I'm not really in the mood to get my ass kicked by Sanji today,_ he thought, before turning to face their manager, various conversations between the other band members dying down out of respect.

"Well then guys, we've arrived in Glasgow! We got here about half an hour earlier than expected and have about a two hour wait until the sound check, so if I were you, if you're still feeling ropey from last night's bender I'd catch some Z's at the hotel, because you're not going to get a chance after the sound check. Otherwise feel free to take a look around the city; I know none of you have been here before, BUT -" Sanji pointed an angry finger in Luffy's direction, who shrunk back in his seat, "- None of you are going off alone this time. I'm not having a repeat of yesterday's idiocy, so groups of two at the minimum if you're going exploring." The manager paused to flick through his notes, the van drawing to a halt as he did so. "It seems we've arrived, and I've said everything I need to say, so go nuts, and I'll see you at the venue in two hours."

As he clambered out of the van with the rest of the band, it occurred to Kidd just how efficient their band manager was. There probably weren't many people who could put up with six blokes in a confined space for long periods of time, who in total had a combined mental age of, well, _six_, but Sanji could handle it pretty damn well.

Kidd wasn't so full of himself to be incapable of acknowledging that the Kids of Heart would probably have never had mainstream success without him, which is why he always tried to make the blonde's job easier in his own way; arriving at venues mostly on time, forcing himself to attend dull interviews and press conferences, and generally acting pretty well behaved when out on the town. However, as the band left for the hotel and camped out in Luffy's room, the drummer handing out cans of energy drinks and insisting tonight's performance would be, "The craziest we've ever performed, trust me!", the redhead's protesting conscience was ignored in favour of putting on a kick-ass show. Because hell, what was the point in rules if you didn't stretch them at occasionally?


	4. Day Four: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena

**Kids of Heart – Chapter 4**

**A/N: **I really need to learn to turn Tumblr off before starting to write fic. Maybe then I'd get stuff done quicker. Oh well! This is a bit of a filler chapter so I apologise if it seems long winded, but this is where the story took me~

**Warning: **Strong language from the beginning, eventual malexmale, later chapters shall be rated 'M'.

**Disclaimer: **Characters belong to Oda, and the song lyrics used belong to The Blackout and their record label. You should check 'em out, they're a quality band.

**CARDIFF MOTORPOINT ARENA – SEPTEMBER 4****TH**

Kidd made a mental note never to touch energy drinks again as he rolled out of his hotel bed, having been awakened by loud knocking on his door accompanied by Sanji giving multiple, painful sounding death threats if he didn't move his ass and get out to the van within the next half an hour.

"Calm your tits blondie, I'm coming." He called through the door, drowning out whatever angry reply was given by entering the en suite bathroom, setting the shower too cold in an attempt to wake himself up a little more effectively. As the chilly water ran over him the redhead attempted to justify how shitty he felt, remembering how the show they'd performed last night was probably the best they'd ever done. However, his aching head and sore limbs, which protested with every movement, soon put a stop to any positive thoughts.

Once Kidd was out of the shower, dressed, packed up and as ready to face the outside world as he'd ever be, he headed down to the van, handing his room key into reception as he went. He dumped his suitcase in the back of the roadies' van (righting an amp he'd knocked onto its side in the process) and climbed into his seat, nodding to the few conscious band members as he went. Something told him that this journey would be a quiet one.

~x~

Sanji waited until the van had set off before clapping his hands and clearing his throat loudly for attention, gaining himself a barrage of angry looks from the Kids of Heart, most of which were already asleep and had just been rudely awoken. The blonde ignored these looks, however, taking them in stride as he began his morning speech.

"Morning everyone! Tonight we play in Cardiff, which means another seven hours on the road, but before I let you all collapse there's an issue about last night's show I need to address. I don't know what you ate, drank or took before getting up on stage last night, but all of your performances were packed full of energy. At the same time, they were also erratic and hyperactive; there were way too many instances where you were all playing out of sync, and I could see the frustrated faces of the fans from where I was stood backstage. Plus, anyone can see that you're all suffering for it; crashing out afterwards is never fun, and if it ruins your performances tonight you'll _all_ regret it. Don't do it again." Sanji warned, pointing a menacing finger at each of the Kids of Heart in turn before turning his attention back to his notes. "Otherwise, there's not really much else I need to say, so feel free to chill for a while."

As the band members (most audibly Luffy and Bepo) cheered and almost instantly fell back to sleep, Sanji slid on his headphones, browsing his iPad as music filled his ears and checking emails from his assistant at the office; a wonderful woman named Robin who was far too overqualified for office work (with a Masters in Archaeology and ten years of experience as a museum curator), but seemed to enjoy the job and her co-workers all the same. The fact that she somehow knew Luffy and 'owed him a favour' most likely also played a part in keeping her in the office, but Sanji liked to think that she stayed purely for his gentlemanly charms.

Whilst Sanji managed the tour and travelled with the Kids of Heart wherever they went, Robin remained in their office headquarters to handle the press, fan mail, and any legal issues that cropped up. Her steely professionalism meant that any problems were dealt with quickly and discreetly, which was a blessing; when six completely contrasting characters were put together in an interview, one of them was bound to say something which could be offensive to _someone, _and the last thing the band needed was negative press now they had been thrust into the spotlight with little preparation_._ The blonde couldn't have wished for a better co-worker. Seeing nothing that needed his immediate attention, Sanji put his tablet away, leaning back in his chair in an attempt to get comfortable, or at least as comfortable as you can be when you're sat in the back of a van with six other guys and minimal leg room.

His eyes drifted around the darkened van, focusing on Zoro for a second; Sanji told him he was owed a favour two days back in a fit of relief following the whole 'Where's Luffy?' debacle, and he was anxious to find out what the guitarist would ask of him. The two of them went way back, and were well known for hating each other's guts ever since they first met. And who could blame them? Zoro was a classless, impolite, ignorant oaf with no sense of common decency and a habit of being brutally honest, even when circumstances meant it would have been better if he'd just kept his mouth shut. Sanji couldn't stand him at the best of times, which made working in close proximity with each other…_challenging_, to say the least. However the blonde prided himself on his charm, professionalism and good manners, so when the two of them had to work together he was just about able to grin and bear it. Knowing his luck, Zoro would decide to make Sanji do something ridiculous or humiliating as his 'favour', just to see him squirm; the moss head knew he'd never go back on a promise, which meant he was definitely going to take advantage of him. In fact, the lead guitarist was probably scheming what to ask of him now, knowing him. Whatever Zoro lacked in intelligence and class, he more than made up for in cunning, unfortunately for the blonde.

Sanji gazed around the van absent-mindedly, taking in the sleeping faces of the band members with a fond smile. Though he could become a little aggressive when things weren't going to plan, he and the Kids of Heart were all great friends at the end of the day, and they all forgave him easily enough. At first the blonde had only known Luffy when he was bullied into managing the band and only knew of the other members through reputation, so he had no idea what to expect when he finally met everyone else a week or so later. Aside from Zoro, who started an argument with him in record time and placed himself firmly in his bad books straight away, Sanji got on well with the other members; especially Law, who valued manners and class as much as he did, and almost always acted professionally in any situation.

Something else Sanji had noticed about Law was that he was a fairly solitary person, preferring his own company, or that of his best friend Bepo. However, whilst the rest of the Kids of Heart were dead to the world, Law was having a conversation with Kidd of all people, heads close together and speaking in whispers in order to allow the rest of the band to sleep on undisturbed. _Kidd and Law rarely have anything to do with each other…how strange._ Shrugging, Sanji reclined in his seat in an attempt to get comfortable. They still had at least another six hours or so before they reached their destination in Cardiff, so if you were unable to sleep through it, even talking to someone as brutish as Kidd would help to pass the time.

~x~

"Hey, looks like we just entered Cardiff!" Bepo said with an excited grin, pointing out of the darkened van windows at a 'Welcome to Cardiff' road sign.

"You don't say?" Law replied with a smirk.

"Thank Christ for that, I think I'm starting to develop cabin fever." Kidd butted in, raising both arms above his head and stretching in an attempt to relieve his cramped muscles.

"What, you mean you haven't enjoyed my company throughout the journey? I'm offended." Law narrowed his eyes.

"Apparently you value your conversational skills way too highly."

"Thanks a lot! In that case I won't bother next time. Have fun trying to entertain yourself for god knows how many hours tomorrow." Law made a show of turning his back to Kidd and flipping him off, something the redhead was totally unable to take seriously.

"As if you'd turn my company down, I'm an exceptionally gifted conversationalist."

"Now who's valuing their conversational skills too highly?"

"Hey! We've been talking for the past six hours, I didn't hear you complaining then."

"That's because I had no other –"

"I NEED A PEE!" Luffy interrupted their argument with a start as the drummer suddenly woke up, the exclamation loud enough to ensure anyone left asleep in the van, or indeed a three mile radius of the vehicle, was now well and truly woken. Sanji looked unimpressed as he glared at Luffy over his iPad.

"Can't you wait? We'll be at the venue in half an hour tops."

"But Saaaanjiiiiiii, I'm really desperate!" Luffy's face literally looked like the 'D:' emoticon as he continued to whine, begging for them to stop the van before eventually something inside their manager snapped, and he ordered their driver to stop at the next services, which thankfully were only a couple of minutes away.

"Ok everyone, you literally have five minutes to get in, do your thing, and get out again. Anyone who's late is having their alcohol privileges revoked for the rest of the tour. I AM DEADLY SERIOUS. See you in five!" Sanji warned the Kids of Heart as they entered the services car park and looked for a space, undoing and jumping out of the van doors just in time to avoid the entire band exiting the vehicle at top speed. Kidd found himself walking with Law to the coffee stand just inside the entrance, joining the back of the queue and subtly pointing Sanji out to the lead singer as he stalked past to use the toilets.

"Does he really think he can get away with threatening our 'alcohol privileges'?" The redhead asked, making air quotes as he spoke. "We're not children, for crap's sake."

"Well, it looked like you were high-tailing it out of the van along with the rest of us, so apparently it worked, and we're more like children than you thought." Law smirked, rummaging through his pockets for loose change.

"It's not like I believed him! Sanji wouldn't _dare_ to threaten me anyway; I'm too much of a bad man to be messed with."

"Ah yes, says the one who wears fur coats on stage all the time and drinks lattes with a shot of low-fat cinnamon syrup."

"You might not care about your calorific intake, but I'm losing over two weeks of gym time on this tour." Kidd shoved his hands in his pockets, frustrated at remembering his personal trainer was probably going to have a fit when he got home.

"And you wouldn't want your perfect abs to get all flabby, would you? None of the girls would love you anymore."

"As if you think I maintain my physique to impress the fans. I'll have you know my body is a temple. _My_ temple."

"Sure, whatever. Don't talk to me about being a hard man and fill yourself with cinnamon flavoured frothy milk at the same time. That's a total oxymoron."

"You're a moron!" Kidd jabbed a finger at the singer, proud of his retort but at the same time wishing he'd come up with something a little wittier.

"A gifted conversationalist? I don't think so." Law's face was unimpressed but even so his eyes shone with amusement, and Kidd figured he could let him get away with taking the piss. Besides, he was next in line for coffee, and the barista was waiting impatiently for him to order.

And if anyone had noticed the teenage girls giggling to each other at the back of the queue and watching Kidd and Law like hawks, they didn't mention it.

**EDIT: **I missed off this final sentence in my last draft, apologies!


	5. Day Five: O2 Academy Leicester

**Kids of Heart – Chapter 5**

**A/N: **I am SO SORRY that this took so long to get to you. School has been killing me, I had some extra hours at work, and my Christmas holiday was really busy. But I'm no longer working and all of my exams are over until May/June, so hopefully you won't have too much of a wait until I update next time! If you want to keep up to date with my writing progress and what's happening in my life, check out my tumblr and twitter accounts; the links are on my profile, and I update those accounts far more often than I do this one.

**Warning: **Strong language from the beginning, eventual malexmale, later chapters shall be rated 'M'.

**Disclaimer: **Characters belong to Oda, and the song lyrics used belong to The Blackout and their record label. You should check 'em out, they're a quality band.

**O2 ACADEMY LEICESTER – 5****TH**** SEPTEMBER 2012**

Kidd, having been asleep for most of the journey from Cardiff, was suddenly awoken by the sensation of the van pulling to a halt, and the general increase of noise from his band mates that usually meant they'd arrived at their destination. Cracking an eye open he pulled out his phone to check the time, frowning in confusion at the digits displayed on the screen.

"That's really not a good look, Mister Eustass." The familiar voice of Law cut across the noise from the other side of the bus and, still half asleep and therefore unable to come up with a witty response, Kidd resorted to sticking his middle finger in the lead singer's general direction.

Drinking about half a bottle of water to wake himself up, the bassist looked over to Sanji for answers, who currently had his head stuck in the sliding panel between the driver's cab and the rest of the van. After another minute or so of discussion with the driver their manager made his way back to his chair at the back of the van, hitting the roof of the van with the flat of his palm a couple of times to get the attention of the rest of the band.

"So, turns out our ever resourceful driver knew of a quicker route than the one we originally planned, so we've now got just under four hours until the sound check. Tonight our accommodation is self-catered because we couldn't make a booking this size with catering." Sanji paused to allow for various cries of "Nooooooo!", "We'll starve!", and "How could you do this to us?", mostly from Luffy, to die down before clearing his throat and continuing. "In light of that, I'm using the extra time before sound-check to go food shopping. I'm gonna pass around some paper and I want all of you to write down the stuff you want to eat. Preferably stuff that can be cooked quickly, because there's not gonna be a long time between sound check and the main show, so now is the only time you'll have to eat before tomorrow morning. Once you've done that, head up to your rooms and do whatever the hell you want until sound check."

And so the shopping list was passed around, dinner requests were made, and suitcases were hauled up to their sixth floor accommodation and dumped in their respective bedrooms. The Kids of Heart found themselves congregating in the communal living/kitchen/dining area, attempting to fit all six arses onto a three-seater sofa and succeeding, but not without a lot of awkward shuffling and hands where hands _definitely_ shouldn't be. And there they stayed, as comfortable as they could be in that situation, watching re-runs of Top Gear until Sanji appeared from his own bedroom with a world-weary look on his face. Well, more world-weary than usual anyway.

"Guys, there's a massive shitstorm going down at my office and I'm not gonna have enough time to get to the shops. One of you is gonna have to go for me."

All of a sudden the carpet became very interesting.

"Come on guys, if one of you doesn't go you're not gonna get any food until tomorrow."

Kidd could have sworn he'd seen tumbleweed rolling across the floor. He sighed, extracting himself from the sofa despite Killer and Bepo's attempts at keeping him seated. "Fine, I'll go."

Sanji sighed in relief. "Thank you! Here's the money I set aside for shopping, plus the list. I'm sure you can find the nearest supermarket." Swiping his blonde hair back from his forehead Sanji headed back into his room and closed the door with his foot, already making another call.

The bassist nodded and pulled on his leather jacket, still warm from when he'd last been wearing it no more than a few minutes ago ago. Waving over his shoulder Kidd left their accommodation, debating walking down the six flights of stairs before ruling it out and pressing the lift button. A door opened and closed to his left and he ignored it, assuming it was just another guest; that is, until Law's familiar white and black spotted winter hat appeared around the corner and their lead singer ambled up to him, hands shoved into hoodie pockets.

"Mind if I tag along?" He enquired, shuffling into the elevator as the doors finally opened and pressing the 'ground floor' button.

"No, knock yourself out."

"Cool."

"You didn't seem too keen to come just now."

"I didn't want to go by myself."

"Why, scared of supermarkets?" Kidd sneered.

"No, scared of the number of bags I'd have to carry back with me."

Kidd frowned, glancing at the shopping list. He'd been the first to write on it, so the two sides of A4 paper completely crammed full of food requests was…well, a little bit of a shocker.

"I did wonder why Sanji gave me so much money."

"Well, there's your answer. Glad I'm coming along now?" Law stepped out of the lift, smirking over his shoulder.

"Hah, yeah." He paused. "Glad to have a pack-mule to bring the bags back, anyway."

In hindsight, he should have expected the punch to his shoulder.

~x~

One hour, a couple of hundred pounds and twelve, yes, _twelve_ bags of shopping later, Kidd and Law made their way back through Leicester to the hotel, breath misting in front of them as they attempted to avoid smacking passers-by with any stray bags, or the sticks of baguette poking out at odd angles.

"Who the hell even asked for two baguettes anyway?" Kidd muttered darkly, apologising to yet another pedestrian as they were stabbed in the leg with the corner of a pizza box.

"Probably Luffy and Zoro. You know how those two like to play with their food." Law replied, turning sideways to try and manoeuvre a particularly narrow area of pavement.

They fell into an awkward silence for a while after that. That is, until they made their way onto a residential street, and Kidd found himself sighing in relief at the significant drop in the number of people trying to get by them. Especially the disappearance of three weird girls, who'd looked at them as if they had two heads or something. The memory of his and Law's brief exchange in the tour van that morning suddenly came back to him, and he would have swatted the singer in the back of the head if his hands hadn't been full.

"Hey, it's all well and good saying I look like shit when I first wake up, but I bet you don't look much better." He declared out of the blue, only realising as the words left his mouth how out of place they were.

"Bit of a delayed reaction there, Kidd." Law raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah yeah, I know. But the point still stands."

"Well I happen to think that I look _glorious_ first thing in the morning."

"Well _I_ happen to think that that's impossible."

"Maybe you should sleep with me and I'll prove you wrong."

"Uh…"

"That sounded less gay in my head."

"Sure it did. But moving on from that, out of everyone I've ever slept with, and there have been many, none of them looked good straight after waking up."

"Everyone?"

"Yep."

"Not every girl?" Law threw him a questioning glance. Kidd shrugged.

"No, 'cause I'm not just into girls. If they're hot, I'll bang 'em."

"How eloquent."

"I know."

"But you've only ever had girlfriends, haven't you?"

"No? Were you living under a rock for the six months I was sort-of going out with Eddie?"

"Eddie? I thought you were just really good friends."

"Really good friends that gave each other blowies in the changing rooms after PE. For a smart person you can be pretty dense sometimes."

"First off, I don't want to know about the shit you did with your boyfriend whilst on school grounds. That's just disgusting. And second, we hardly knew each other back in school!"

"It was public knowledge, man. I'm fairly certain some of the teachers knew as well."

"Gross. So, you're bi then?"

"I don't know. If you want to call me that then that's fine, but I don't bother with labels. Is 'ask Kidd anything hour' almost finished yet?"

"Yeah, sure. Sorry."

A pause. Kidd grinned, figuring it was his turn.

"It's ok. So, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Who are you into?"

"Oh, I'm strictly a 'dicks only' kinda guy."

"Really? I thought you were with that pink haired chick for like two years."

"Bonney? She's a lesbian."

"No way!"

"I thought it was obvious."

"Well, I've only spoken to her about three times so I wouldn't know."

"You learn something new every day, right?"

"Too true. To be honest, until recently I didn't really know a lot about you. You're a bit of an enigma."

Law rolled his eyes. "Forgive me for not broadcasting every single detail about myself to the world."

Kidd shouldered him. "That's not what I meant, asshole. I just meant we've been in the same band for a long time, but you always seem to stick with Bepo."

"I'm a private person, ok? I stick with Bepo for the same reason you hang around with Killer all the time; he's one of my oldest friends, and seeing as I was entering into a band where I didn't know half of the members that well, I thought it'd be best to keep to myself until I got a better idea of who you all were."

"OK, chill out." A pause. Kidd cleared his throat. "I think we know each other a bit better now though; don't you?"

"Yeah, I think so. Nothing like being crammed in a small vehicle for hours at a time to develop a friendship, right?"

"There are probably easier methods. Not that this game of twenty questions wasn't fun or anything, but do you know if we're nearly back yet?"

"I think our hotel's down the next street."

"Oh yeah, I remember now! Thank God. I can't feel my fingers anymore."

"Neither can I. Ah, here we are."

Ducking into the hotel entrance, Law managed to rearrange his bags enough to press the elevator button, Kidd clenching and unclenching his fists around the shopping bags in an attempt to get the blood flowing properly again. And when the rattling elevator finally reached their floor, the shopping had been dumped in the kitchenette and the bassist had finally collapsed on the sofa with little care for who he may have accidentally sat on he let out a sigh, relieved that he could finally relax for an hour or so before cooking his pizza and heading to the sound check.

That is, until Luffy begged him for help with making his feast of a meal, and he and Law ended up on kitchen duty. Kidd, for one, wanted to know why he'd suddenly been appointed as the Kids of Heart's mother hen, but at that moment he was far too hungry to start arguing. Besides, the entertainment value of watching Zoro and Luffy sword fighting with their baguettes as Law had predicted more than made up for it.

~x~

At the same time, across the street from the band's hotel, two girls in their Kids of Heart t-shirts compared phone-taken photographs as they waited for their bus, a third searching for the email address of Kerrang! News' press office. They were gonna _love_ what they'd discovered.


	6. Day Six: Plymouth Pavilions

**Kids of Heart – Chapter 6**

**A/N: **Just as a forewarning, I went back through my calendar for September 2012 and the date and day I use in the fic doesn't match up with the actual day from last year. Please bear with me on that though; it's important to the plot that the events of this chapter take place on a certain day of the week, but I shouldn't be referring to specific days throughout the rest of the fic so hopefully there won't be any continuity issues.

**Warning: **Strong language from the beginning. A hint of malexmale in this chapter, but not really enough to warrant an 'M' rating yet, I don't think! If you want to avoid it, it's in the third section of the chapter. :3

**Disclaimer: **Characters belong to Oda, and the song lyrics used belong to The Blackout and their record label. You should check 'em out, they're a quality band.

**PLYMOUTH PAVILIONS – 6****TH**** SEPTEMBER 2012**

Sanji decided to sit up front with the driver on the trip to Plymouth; it was Wednesday, which meant that Kerrang! Magazine was being published today, along with a gig review and interview slash gossip feature with the Kids of Heart. Though the blonde had already gone over most of the article with the Kerrang! writers it never hurt to get a read of the final edition, just to make sure everything was up to scratch. Being separate from the band meant he could talk on the phone without interruption, plus made it easier to discuss sensitive issues with the office without any band members taking offence.

"So, Robin, how's the gig review looking?" He asked whilst searching for his PDF copy of the magazine on his iPad, phone wedged between his shoulder and the side of his head.

"Very favourable. They were given four out of five Ks, which is fairly promising as Kerrang! is notoriously stingy with giving out the full five." Sanji smiled at the familiar voice of his office-based counterpart at the other end of the phone before returning his attention to the tablet's screen.

"Excellent! Ah, yep, the page loaded for me now, everything's looking in top shape. While I'm waiting for the interview to load could you give me a quick run-down?"

Sanji could hear the faint rustling of pages down the line before Robin returned to the phone. "It's a pretty standard interview, to be honest. They've taken out the question about Eustass' young offenders record, which is good, so other than that no cause for complain." The blonde sighed with relief. The Kids of Heart's bassist had a…colourful history, to put it nicely, and had a lifelong ban from their local ASDA and two ASBOs to show for it. The problem wasn't with the criminal record in itself; rock band members without any criminal history were the minority, or so it seemed. The problem was that Kidd was touchy and hated to talk about his failings, and Sanji didn't want the magazine, and therefore its readers, to think he was a total asshole.

"Awesome. What about the dreaded gossip section?" he made a face. "I don't understand why they do these, to be honest; their readers have to know that everything they put in is a bunch of lies."

"Well everything looks ok. There are some rumours about the cause of the jitters during Glasgow's show, but nothing too harmful. Apparently Bepo was seen with a female fan after Brixton's show, which is impossible because you didn't hang around after the gig. And…hmm. This is a little out of the ordinary. Has the page loaded for you yet?" Robin asked, concern creeping into her voice.

"Yeah, just skimming it now."

"Skip to the last paragraph."

Sanji frowned, reading the article aloud. "'_And finally, three savvy fans overheard bassist and lead singer Trafalgar Law and Eustass Kidd confessing they were gay for each other! Something tells me these lasses have spent too much time on the internet, but we at Kerrang! promise to get to the bottom of this claim.'_ What the hell?"

"Did you have any idea about this?"

"No! I mean, Kidd had a couple of boyfriends in high school but he's been single for at least a year, and as far as I know Law is straight and hasn't dated anyone for…well, years. I don't understand where their source could have got that information."

"Have they been out alone together recently?"

"I don't think…ah, wait, I sent them shopping before last night's show, so that must have been when the girls heard them talking."

"What are you going to do, Sanji?"

"Well, there's nothing wrong with them being gay if, of course, this source is correct. Once we get to Plymouth I'll have to pull them aside and address the rumours with them. Prepare a press statement in case any other publications get in contact stating that the band and its management has declined to comment on this topic at this time."

"No problem."

"Anything else before I finish up here?"

"On further investigation a fan has sent in a picture of Kidd and Law laughing together in the queue for coffee. It was published on Kerrang's blog site. Law has his hand on Kidd's shoulder and it looks fairly intimate."

"Perfect, more fuel for the fire. Thanks for keeping me updated, Robin, I'll be in touch when we get to Plymouth."

"Thanks boss."

A click, and then Robin hung up. Sanji ran his hand over his face, looking wearily to the driver.

"Let me guess, this is a non-smoking vehicle even if I open the window."

"'Fraid so, mate."

"Damn."

~x~

Kidd clambered out of the van as the Kids of Heart arrived at their hotel in Plymouth, accidentally-on-purpose shoving Luffy into the side of the doorway as he jumped down onto the tarmac. The rubber-brained idiot hadn't shut up for the entire four hour journey, so the redhead felt he had good reason to beat the other up a little bit. _Ah, revenge is sweet_.

"What was that for, Kidd?" Luffy shouted, bodily shoving the bass guitarist to the side in retaliation.

"I didn't get any sleep because of you, asshole!" He replied, throwing a punch which the frustratingly speedy drummer managed to dodge. Kidd was vaguely aware of the other band members gathering around them and chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!" but was too occupied by his opponent rugby-tackling him to the ground to respond.

"Get off me!" He raged, trying to flip their positions and failing miserably, Luffy's limbs seeming to be everywhere and nowhere all at once, stopping him from getting a decent grip. Eventually he rolled him, pinning the drummer to the tarmac for all of about half a second before he too was rolled. Eventually the wind was knocked out of them from both the scuffle and the laughter they couldn't contain, and both Luffy and Kidd were left lying on the tarmac in a cloud of dust, feebly kicking at each other every so often.

"So, who won?" the drummer asked between giggles.

"Won what, the biggest dumbass competition? I couldn't possibly choose between you." Law said with a grin and a shake of the head, extending his hand to help Kidd out of the dirt. The bass guitarist, who wasn't proud enough to turn down the help, used Law's hand to pull himself upright, his free hand trying to remove the dust marks on his jeans. Whilst concentrating on reducing the newly made scuff marks Kidd probably left his hand in Law's for a little longer than necessary, but really, who was counting? Satisfied with his work he dropped the others' hand.

"Cheers for the hand up."

"My pleasure." Law replied with a smirk.

It was then that Kidd noticed Sanji watching them with a slightly calculating expression, cigarette clamped between his lips.

"Hey you two. When you're finished packing and getting settled in your rooms, come and see me in number 226. I've got an important matter to discuss with you."

Kidd and Law shared a confused glance. "What about?" Law asked, but Sanji was already making his way into the hotel.

"Weird, huh?"

"Yeah, he's probably gonna shout at us for spending all of the money he gave us for shopping yesterday."

"Well he gave it to us for a reason!" Kidd protested, taking his suitcase from the roadie's van and wheeling it into the hotel lobby, taking a room key from the receptionist who had obviously been briefed about the band's arrival and wanted the check-in to be as smooth as possible.

"True. Ah well, we'll find out soon enough." Law shrugged, taking his own key and sliding into the lift with Kidd just as the doors started to close. "We'll go see him in…half an hour from now work for you?"

The redhead nodded. "Yeah, sure, that works." Stepping out of the elevator onto the second floor he made his way to his room, Law following and unlocking the door across the corridor before disappearing inside. Kidd, after pulling off his shoes and dumping his suitcase, decided to unpack his second-favourite bass from its case and work on some new tracks. A little practice never hurt, right?

~x~

Lips pressed against lips like an urgent demand. Hands sneaking under clothes and gliding across skin were hurried and greedy. Gasps and moans were swallowed by the other's mouth. Breath intermingled and pleas for more were whispered and obeyed. Their minds were hazy with lust and the sound of their own blood rushing in their ears. All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door.

"_Fuck!_"

~x~

Kidd could have sworn he'd heard a muffled curse on the other side of Sanji's door after he knocked, but as Law said nothing about it he assumed he'd just misheard. There was a lot of rustling of paper, then Sanji poked his head out of the door, looking dishevelled and flushed with his phone held between the side of his face and his shoulder.

"Sorry, I'm taking an important call, I'll come find you when I'm done." He said quietly, pointing at the phone before shrugging apologetically, almost dislodging his phone in the process, and closing the door on them.

Law turned to Kidd, confused. "If he was expecting an important call, why didn't he arrange when to talk in the first place?"

The redhead shrugged. "I don't know, man. The stress of the tour must be getting to him. He's probably only had one or two fags today."

"That's true. Hey, were you practicing bass in your room?"

"How'd you guess?"

"I could hear you from across the hall. Mind if I join you?"

"Sure." And as the two of them headed back to Kidd's room, neither of them noticed anyone sneaking out of Sanji's suite and back to their own room.

After twenty minutes or so of Kidd playing bass and Law watching, occasionally suggesting improvements, Sanji arrived at the hotel room door looking a lot better put together. Whilst Kidd took his seat back on the bed after letting their manager in, Law remained at his position on the room's sofa and the blonde opted to sit at the desk, iPad resting on the cheap wood furnishings.

"Right." Sanji started, sounding weary. "This is an awkward topic to bring up, but unfortunately it's something that needs to be addressed. Have either of you looked at the Kids of Heart feature in today's Kerrang! Magazine?"

Both band members shook their heads.

"Well, there was a feature about band gossip, and there was a section from three anonymous sources that the two of you…confessed that you had feelings for each other."

"What the hell?" Kidd demanded.

"Can I see the article?" Law asked, ashen faced, and Sanji passed the iPad to him with a nod.

"Skip to the last paragraph." The manager said, and Law quickly read the article before passing it to Kidd, who also skimmed it and handed it back to Sanji.

"As well as that, there's supposedly an 'intimate' picture taken by a fan of the two of you laughing together, but that wasn't published; it was posted on the magazine's blog instead."

"What do you suggest we do?" Law ran a hand through his hair, eyes flicking between his band mate and his manager.

"Well, what's the truth? Did you confess anything to each other? I need absolute honesty here, guys."

Kidd shrugged. "When we were out shopping yesterday we talked about the past, and some of the boyfriends I had in high school, but nothing major."

"There were certainly no confessions on either of our parts." Law added, the bass guitarist nodding in agreement. "We did talk about sexuality but it was only jokey stuff, nothing serious."

"Ok then." Sanji shrugged. "Just to put it out there, it'd be no problem if the two of you were in a relationship. Acceptance in the rock industry is a hell of a lot more common recently and I don't think it'd impact negatively on the band's overall image. I'm not gonna pressure you into telling the press that you're going out if you're not. At the minute I've put a 'no comment' on anyone that tries to get more information out of us regarding this matter, so you've got time to work out which way you want to go.

"Just try and work this out as soon as you can, please? Whilst a little bit of 'will-they-won't-they' would stir up interest in the band, too much will form a divide between fans. Whatever your decision is, I'll be here to support you 100%."

"So, wait, are you saying we have to tell people we're going out?" Kidd asked, confused.

"Not at all. I'm just saying if you _want_ to be in a relationship it'd be best to announce it sooner rather than later." Sanji checked the time and stood up to leave. "The sound check starts in twenty minutes, so meet the rest of the band and I down at the van in five. Don't bother trying to work anything out tonight, as it'll probably impact on your performance."

And with that the band manager let himself out, leaving Kidd and Law in awkward silence before the singer got up and followed.

**A/N: **Just in case anyone was unaware, 'fag' is a British slang word for cigarettes. I wasn't using it as a homophobic slur. c:


	7. Day Seven: O2 Academy Leeds

**Kids of Heart – Chapter 7**

**A/N: **I felt like the other band members weren't getting enough love, so here's some bromantic action for you! I know at the minute this fic is a bit like 'The Sanji, Kidd and Law show' but don't worry, the other characters are gonna be integrated back into the story properly over the next few chapters.

**Warning: **Strong language from the beginning. There's some implied malexmale if you squint, but still not enough to warrant an M rating yet.

**Disclaimer: **Characters belong to Oda, and the song lyrics used belong to The Blackout and their record label. You should check 'em out, they're a quality band.

**O2 ACADEMY LEEDS – 7****TH**** SEPTEMBER 2012**

Kidd paced up and down his hotel room, hands deep in his pockets and a look of concentration on his face. The Kids of Heart arrived in Leeds about half an hour ago after an uncomfortable van journey from Plymouth, and as there were still a few hours until the sound check Kidd decided to hide in his room to try and think this situation over. The bass guitarist hadn't spoken to Law since Sanji dropped the bombshell last night, and whilst he knew that made their performance in Plymouth awkward and below expectations he didn't want to attempt a conversation until he'd reached a solution.

Exasperated and no closer to making any sort of decision he dropped onto the armchair in the corner, firing off a text to Killer asking if he'd come and help him out. Killer was one of his oldest friends; their families had been next door neighbours since they were toddlers and they'd always been there to keep each other out of trouble. Well, Kidd was always in more trouble than his best friend, but that was just a minor detail. Killer was the only person he'd ever trust to talk about this situation, so he was relieved at the knock on the door which signalled his friend's arrival.

"Hey boss-man, what's the problem?" Killer asked, settling on the desk chair across from Kidd.

"I'm involved in a…uh, situation, and I could really do with someone else's input."

"It's not gonna affect the band, is it?"

"It might be a little bit late for that, Killer."

"Shit. Well I'll help if I can, so go ahead."

And so, Kidd spilt the beans. He spoke of his shopping trip with Law and how their closeness and banter had increased over the space of the tour, explained the gossip article in Kerrang! Magazine and the incriminating photograph, and went over Sanji's suggestions for how to deal with the situation. Killer said nothing aside from asking the occasional question for clarification purposes, instead opting to listen to the entire story and digest the facts before giving his opinion. Once Kidd finished talking and after a couple of minutes of deliberation, he spoke up.

"Don't you think you should be talking to Law about this instead of me?" He asked, raised eyebrow just visible beneath his mass of thick blonde hair.

"I know, I know. I'll try and talk to him tonight. I just wanted someone else's opinion on the matter before blundering in and cocking it up."

"You do have the strange ability of making awkward situations worse." Killer acknowledged.

Kidd leant over and punched him on the shoulder, scowling. "Thanks for that."

"After Sanji spoke to you, what was the first thing that came into your head? Like, the first solution you came up with."

"I guess I thought it was worth giving it a shot. A relationship, I mean, 'cause at the end of the day I do like him. But then I was worried about how it'd affect the rest of the band."

"Why would it affect us?" Killer asked, brow furrowed.

"I don't know, I guess the extra media attention would be pretty fucking stressful. We're all pretty close, but I don't know how a couple of band members would react. Zoro especially; I can never work out what he's thinking."

"Eustass, the amount of media attention we've been getting over the past year has practically quadrupled since we released _Hope_, so I'm sure we can handle a bit more. It's not like we have anything to hide, is it?"

"Nah, I guess not."

"And I'm closer to Zoro than you are; us guitarists have gotta stick together and all that. I know he'd have no issue with you and Law being together. He respects the two of you a lot and I'm pretty sure even if he did have a problem he wouldn't let anything affect his place in the band."

"That's reassuring."

Killer sighed. "I'm gonna be honest here, boss."

"I was hoping you would be."

"I think you're making excuses to not go ahead with this because commitment scares you."

Kidd raised an eyebrow. "Ok, that might have been _too_ honest. But you're right, I guess. This band is the only thing I've ever committed to, and I don't want to let anything fuck it up."

"Which is fair enough; I think I speak for Luffy, Bepo and Zoro as well as myself when I say none of us want Kids of Heart to disintegrate because of relationship drama. But you and Law seem like the last people on earth who'd resort to that kind of thing. You're both strong willed and want the band to do really well, so even if you did have a relationship and it fell apart you'd probably both find some way to keep making music with us regardless. I don't think it'd hurt to try, that's all."

After mulling over the guitarist's words, Kidd came to as close to a final decision as he could. "Cheers, Killer, I'm glad you have my back on this." He grinned, bumping fists with his band mate and best friend.

"It's no problem. Now will you _please_ talk to Law? I know you wanted an outsider's opinion but you really shouldn't keep him on edge. Or Sanji, for that matter."

"Shit yeah, he's probably pulling out his hair about this as we speak."

Speaking of Sanji the band manager rapped impatiently on Kidd's door, slight frustration in his voice. "The sound check was moved forward, I need you down at the van in five minutes tops." Before the redhead could reply, however, the sound of footsteps moving away from the door and down the corridor told him Sanji had already moved onto the next room.

"Ready for tonight, Killer?" Kidd asked, sliding on his leather jacket as he hunted for his discarded shoes.

"Fuck yes I am." He answered with a grin, moving past the redhead and ruffling his hair on the way. Kidd caught his wrist.

"You won't talk about this to anyone else, will you?" He asked, concern creeping into his voice.

"Course not. What're friends for?" Killer lightly punched him on the shoulder as he freed his wrist and headed off to his own room.

~x~

One smooth sound check, one killer concert and one awkward drive back to the hotel later, Kidd stood at Law's door. He could feel anxiety creeping into the back of his mind, worrying that he'd end up making a fool of himself, but he pushed it aside and rapped on the vocalist's door. He was one hundred per cent confident in what he wanted to do; it was the negotiations with his fellow band member that could potentially cause problems.

Law had been acting reclusive all day; on an ordinary journey between venues he'd laugh and joke with his band mates, pass around snacks and take part in conversation whenever he could add something of note. However today he spent the five hour journey absorbed by his notebook, doing nothing but writing and rewriting what Kidd assumed were song lyrics. Well, he supposed, at least the vocalist had something he could focus his frustrations on; there was no room to play bass in the back of a crowded van, so the redhead was left to mope and attempt beating his Temple Run high score.

The hotel room door opening snapped Kidd out of his thoughts and brought him back down to earth, and face to face with Law. He smiled, somewhat sheepishly.

"We've got some talking to do, haven't we?"

Law sighed heavily, but pushed the door open all the way and stood aside to let Kidd inside. "Couldn't you have done this earlier?"

"Probably, but I needed to work out what I was gonna say." Kidd, suddenly faced with the dilemma of where to sit, opted to sit on the desk chair at the end of the bed, Law making himself comfortable on top of the mattress. The vocalist looked vaguely alarmed.

"Did you talk to someone else about this?"

Kidd held up both hands, he hoped in a placating manner. "Just Killer, and he wouldn't spread this on to anyone else unless I told him he could. Scouts honour."

"I didn't think you attended Scouts." Law's eyes narrowed.

"Nah, I didn't, but I thought it'd make me sound a bit more credible." He grinned.

"So, seeing as you've had the opportunity to phone a friend, you can go first. What do you think we should do?"

"That's not fair! You could have talked to Bepo if you wanted to."

"I didn't want to panic him." Kidd shrugged; he had a point, Bepo was in the habit of acting a little overdramatic at times. "So, go on. What's your solution?"

The redhead rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, first off I think the band has to take main priority for a while, at least until the tour finishes. Whatever decision we come to we _can't_ let it impact on our performances, 'cause it wouldn't be fair for the rest of the band to suffer because of an issue that's just between us."

"I definitely agree with you on that."

"Awesome. Now about us; I'm not good at commitment. I hold my hands up to that straight away, and besides, you know enough about my reputation from back at school to know how I've been with relationships before. I've never seen myself as the kind of person that'd end up settling down and being with one person for the rest of my life."

"And you want me to be that person..?"

"No! Well, I don't know yet. I don't know what _you're_ looking for, which is why we're talking about this now. I'm just telling you straight up: I can't promise forever, or anything in terms of long term relationships. But I _can_ promise that right now I'd like to give us a try."

Law rested his chin on his fist, apparently mulling things over for a minute or so. The silence was deafening. He soon straightened up, however, playing with the sleeves of his jumper.

"I don't really do commitment either, for the record. Not in relationships anyway. I'll stick with the Kids of Heart and my friends through _anything_, so if this relationship means putting either of those things in jeopardy then it's not going to work." Kidd nodded his agreement. "But yeah. I'd like to give it a try too." A small smile crept across Law's face, one which was easily returned.

"So…uh, do we tell Sanji about this now?" The bass guitarist asked, figuring that now their worries had been resolved it would only be right to share that with their over-stretched manager.

"It's nearly 1 o'clock in the morning, Kidd. If you want to go wake him up, then feel free, but I'm not joining you."

Kidd feigned shock and dismay. "We've only been going out thirty seconds and you've already betrayed me, how could you!" His melodramatic frown, however, was soon knocked off his face by a pillow thrown from the bed.

"I'm not betraying you, I'm talking sense." Law rolled his eyes, leaning to the side to avoid Kidd's retaliatory pillow-throw and catching his wrist as the bass guitarist got up to leave, pointing accusingly with his other hand. "Hey, where are you going?"

"To get my toothbrush, if you don't mind. Unless you want to share?" Kidd grinned.

"That's the most unhygienic thing I think I've ever heard. No, thank you. But come back quickly, I'm dead on my feet here."

"But you're sitting down!"

"Technicalities, Kidd, shut up."

~x~

The next morning, after a fight to see who could get into the bathroom first, Kidd emerged defeated from Law's hotel room and snuck across to his own, realising he'd left all of his clean clothes there. After showering quickly, dressing and re-packing his suitcase the vocalist and bass guitarist regrouped in the corridor, ready to inform Sanji of their decision. Their manager had yet to go knocking from door to door rousing the Kids of Heart from their slumbers, but through the door Kidd could just about hear movement and a muffled voice, so he assumed their manager was awake, and talking on the phone. He knocked on the door.

"One second." Came the muted reply, and the blonde appeared at the door looking a little like he'd just woken up; wearing jeans and a baggy t-shirt, glasses (which was a strange sight, as he usually wore contact lenses), his hair mussed and sticking up in all directions. "Ah, hey guys. Sorry about my state; there wasn't a towel in my en suite so I haven't showered yet. I thought you were gonna be room service. What's up?"

"Kidd and I have worked out what we want to do." Law said.

"Y'know, about the rumours and all that." Kidd elaborated.

"Great! I hope you didn't rush it, though." Sanji looked at them over the top of his glasses.

"We didn't, don't worry. We both wanted the same thing, anyway."

"Well that makes everything about a hundred times easier." The blonde called over his shoulder back into the room. "Zoro, I've got to deal with this for a sec. Mind if I come back to you later?"

"Sure." The guitarist emerged from Sanji's room, looking better put together but still fairly tired. "Morning, guys." He said as he shuffled past his band mates before leaving for his own room.

"Morning…" Kidd echoed, seriously confused as to why Zoro would have been in Sanji's room. As far as he knew, they hated each other.

"What was that about?" Law asked, appearing equally confused as he followed Kidd into Sanji's room and took a seat with him on the sofa.

"Oh, uh, he wanted me to deal with one of the roadies, they lost all of his guitar picks." The blonde didn't look entirely convinced by what he'd just said, but Kidd decided not to follow it up; if Sanji had told anyone about what he and Law were going through he'd have been really pissed off, so he knew to respect the privacy of his band mate and manager. "So, what did you decide?"

Law and Kidd shared a look before speaking. "We want to come out as a couple."

"Well, first off, congratulations." Sanji said with a smile. "This makes things a lot easier for me, because we've now got plenty of time to come up with an official statement and invite the press for interviews before Kerrang! next publishes on the thirteenth. I'll call Robin in the office today and we'll get the ball rolling, so you shouldn't have to worry about giving any interviews or the like until tomorrow at the earliest."

"So soon?" Kidd asked.

"Yeah, I'm afraid so. Getting word straight from the horse's mouth will help to stomp down on any vicious rumours and maintain the fans' trust in the band." Sanji looked like he was going to keep talking, but there was a knock at the door. "That's probably my room service, so I'm gonna have to kick you out, but I think I've covered all of the important stuff. Just don't talk to anyone about this until I give you the heads up, alright?"

"Not even the rest of the band?"

"Better not, just in case you get overheard." Sanji walked to the door as he spoke, taking a small pile of towels from the hotel staff member and holding the door open for Kidd and Law. As they left, their manager caught their attention again.

"Congrats again though, guys. I hope it works out. I'll meet you downstairs in an hour before we hit the road."


	8. Day Eight: Engine Shed Lincoln

**Kids of Heart – Chapter 8**

**A/N: **I apologise in advance for how short this chapter is. Unfortunately the fic can't continue without this scene and I couldn't work it into any other chapters. Next chapter should be a lot longer though! At the minute I'm on schedule of updating this fic once a month, but unfortunately because of exams coming up I might find it difficult to update during May. If I have to skip an update I should be able to make it up over the summer, as I'll have plenty of spare time then, and I apologise in advance if I end up keeping you waiting! For more up-to-date information on the status of my writing feel free to drop me an ask at my tumblr; the link is on my profile.

**Warning: **Strong language from the beginning. Heavily implied malexmale but nothing specific.

**Disclaimer: **Characters belong to Oda, and the song lyrics used belong to The Blackout and their record label. You should check 'em out, they're a quality band.

**ENGINE SHED LINCOLN – 8****TH**** SEPTEMBER 2012**

"Right you lot, order up! And make it one at a time, please, I can't write that fast."

Sanji called down from the head of the Kids of Heart's table, notebook and pen poised as he took down dinner orders from the six lads anxiously awaiting their evening meal. With a couple of hours to spare between arriving in Lincoln and the sound check the band manager figured there was enough time for a decent meal, and their knowledgeable van driver soon found the perfect restaurant-slash-diner for them to eat in.

Orders collected he soon joined the back of the queue to order, but not before dragging a grumbling Zoro up with him.

"Why do I have to help?" Sanji rolled his eyes at the guitarist's juvenile moaning.

"Because I can't carry seven meals back to the table by myself, and you were sat at the end of the row so it was easier to get you out of the booth. Now quit bitching, or is carrying a couple of trays too much work for you?" Sanji smirked, but Zoro's unimpressed look told him that he wasn't in the mood to play along with the joke.

"Obviously not."

"What's your problem anyway? You've been really pissy since we left Leeds." Ever since the guitarist had left his hotel room, in fact, Sanji noticed he'd been acting strangely; participating less in conversation and avoiding eye contact with him as much as possible.

Zoro sighed and shuffled forwards a couple of steps. "Well for one thing we almost got caught by Kidd and Law this morning."

Sanji bristled. "So? They can keep a secret, it's not the end of the world."

"That's great, but I don't want anyone to know about what we're doing." Zoro looked over his shoulder as he spoke, as if to see whether any of the band members were listening in.

"Why not? Are you ashamed?"

"No, I just don't want what we're doing to be public – "

"'What we're doing', huh? Is the idea of sleeping with me so disgusting to you that you can't even say the words?" Sanji's voice rose, uncaring of the other diners who'd decided to listen in to their melodrama. The two of them had begun sleeping together a few nights ago after Zoro's attempt at winning the blonde over with alcohol-fuelled chat-up lines, and frankly Sanji found it a welcome distraction. The thought of how long it had been since he last got laid was pretty embarrassing, but seeing as the guitarist appeared to be in the same boat he welcomed the opportunity to, _ah_ – refresh his memory.

"I don't know yet!" Zoro hissed, exasperation obvious in his voice. Confusion must have been evident in Sanji's face, as the guitarist continued. "I-uh, I don't really know how to explain this. I don't really know how I feel about you. Or the idea of being with a man in general; I'm still trying to work out what's going on." Now Zoro sounded unsure, eyes darting around the room to avoid making eye contact with the blonde.

"So you're experimenting with me, is that what you're saying?"

Zoro was floundering. "Well, you know you said a few days back that you owed me a favour, I thought that – "

Sanji was fuming. He could feel his face flushing, and he ground his teeth wishing he could smoke a cigarette right at that moment. "Fuck you Zoro! Using me to try and figure out what's happening with your sexuality is not an acceptable use of a favour! Especially not on the sly like that. I'd have no problem being friends with benefits but I'm a human being, and you can't just use me and then drop me if you decide you like girls more."

His voice dropped to a more acceptable volume as they got closer and closer to the front of the queue. "I know we don't get on well sometimes, but I'd hoped you'd have more respect for me than to do something like this. Until you work out what's going on, this – whatever this was – is over."

"Fine." Zoro's voice was clipped, but Sanji was satisfied with how conflicted the guitarist seemed. Taking a deep breath to calm himself down the blonde stepped up to the cashier, reading off the band's order from his notebook and paying with the office debit card. If his voice maybe wavered a little, nobody deemed it necessary to point that out. As they waited for their food to be plated up Sanji and Zoro stood in silence, each taking two trays as they headed back to the table.

Instantly the jovial atmosphere at the Kids of Heart's table dissolved as Sanji and Zoro sat down and started passing out plates. The band members could obviously tell that there was something wrong between the guitarist and their manager, and most simply accepted their food and got on with eating silently, not wishing to be the one to push them over the edge. Note the use of the word _most._

"What's the matter with you two? Did they give you both the wrong food?" Luffy asked between mouthfuls of food as he looked between the Sanji and Zoro, spittle and chewed morsels flying across the table much to the disgust of the other diners. The blonde shot him a frosty look.

"A private issue, none of your business." The lack of any humour in the manager's tone told Luffy to keep his nose from where it wasn't wanted and the drummer quickly turned his attention solely to his food.

Chatter slowly started opening up again and soon it was as if nothing happened to the rest of the band, laughter and banter flying across the table between mouthfuls. And if anyone picked up that Sanji and Zoro were joining in far less than usual, well, they must have figured it was none of their business and chosen not to interfere.


	9. Day Nine: Capital FM Arena Nottingham

**Kids of Heart – Chapter 9**

**A/N: **I feel like I'm making the press into this awful villain in this fic, which is ironic considering I'm about to go to university to study journalism. :') Once again, sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up! I had my final exams in May/June to get through and I didn't want any distractions, but now I have the whole summer to really work hard on this fic!

**Warning: **Strong language from the beginning. Heavily implied malexmale but nothing specific.

**Disclaimer: **Characters belong to Oda, and the song lyrics used belong to The Blackout and their record label. You should check 'em out, they're a quality band.

**CAPITAL FM ARENA NOTTINGHAM – 9****TH**** SEPTEMBER 2012**

Sanji stood side of stage watching the Kids of Heart play their set, pleased by how flawless their performance had been so far. The manager had been worried that nine dates into their tour they might be beginning to tire, but the entire group still played with the buzzing energy of their debut show, and judging by the screaming of the crowd the audience appreciated their hard work.

However, Sanji couldn't focus on the show, and instead found his thoughts returning to how he was going to handle the media interest surrounding Kidd and Law. _And potentially Zoro,_ he added mentally, as since their argument in the restaurant yesterday relations hadn't returned to normal between them and the blonde was certain people were starting to notice the tension. It was definitely going to be a struggle dealing with the media now there were two, potentially three gay or bisexual members of the Kids of Heart; the rock and metal world had always been severely lacking in queer representation so the first sniff of it would have the entire band under scrutiny, and who knows what that would bring into the spotlight? Considering some of the band members' questionable moral choices and less than spotless criminal records, a situation like that could only end badly.

Whilst he was glad that Kidd and Law had made a solid decision about how to handle their end of the situation, actually getting the right message across to the media was ultimately all down to himself and Robin back at the office. On top of that, the backlash from their fan base would need to be managed so that the worst of any offensive comments would be kept away from the band. Unfortunately in a case such as this there would almost definitely be people denouncing the band because of deep seated homophobia or other such ridiculous excuses, and it was Sanji's job to make sure that both Kidd and Law realised that it was categorically _not_ their fault.

Another issue was the timing. The fact that this was the Kids of Heart's first ever headline tour weighed heavy on his mind as they simply could not afford to fuck this up. But the media were like a pack of hungry wolves; one tiny scrap of information and they'd rip apart anything that got in the way of printing the exclusive story first. Leaving them for too long with no official information to go on would lead to the circulation of rumours, which would probably stick in fans' minds far more than any official statement could.

Sanji shook his head, putting everything to the back of his mind for now. Earlier he'd arranged a phone conference with Robin and a couple of other staff at the office, to take place tomorrow before they set off to Wolverhampton, the next tour destination. He was certain that together they would work out what to do, but for now the blonde was happy to perch himself on a stray amp and enjoy watching the band perform from side of stage. _Even with all of the drama, it's still the music that's most important._

~x~

As the numbers on his phone's clock ticked around to 1:30am, Kidd dragged himself off the comfy hotel bed, slowly and carefully opening his room door to make minimal noise and ensure that nobody else was snooping around. Convinced he was alone in the corridor, the redhead gingerly closed and locked the door behind him and made his way to room 215, aka Law's room.

Before he could even knock, the door opened an inch or two and Law's face appeared in the gap, looking from side to side down the corridor suspiciously. "Moron." Kidd mumbled with a grin, which was soon replaced with a look of surprise as the vocalist swung the door open, grabbed a fistful of his shirt and dragged him into the room.

"Was that really necessary?" Kidd asked after Law locked the door and turned to face him, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

"Nobody calls me a moron and gets away with it." He replied scathingly, but the humour in his eyes betrayed that there were no hard feelings.

"Fine, _sir,_ it won't happen again." The sarcasm practically dripped off of his words as he lay back on Law's bed, making himself comfortable. The vocalist soon joined him, and Kidd found himself shaking his head in disbelief.

"Y'know, out of all the things I thought might come out of joining this band, a relationship wasn't really one of them. Sex, yeah. But nothing more serious than that."

"And certainly not with another band member, either." Law added, glancing over at the redhead before returning to stare up at the ceiling.

"I know, man! Everyone seems to think that a rock band should be a brotherhood. Oops."

"Well couples have played in other bands before and they all seemed to do ok. It's not like the first commandment of being in a band is 'thou shalt not lie with thine fellow band members', right?"

Kidd chuckled. "Good to know. Besides, it's not plural. I'm only gonna be lying with you if that's alright."

"Don't worry, it's _definitely_ alright. No offence to the other lads, they're great guys and all, but I'd rather get my dick cut off than sleep with them."

"It seems a bit incestuous, doesn't it?"

"Ooh, that's a big word." Law teased, sticking out his tongue and rolling on his side to avoid the playful swipe of Kidd's fist. "But no, it wouldn't feel incestuous as such; more like most of them have the mentality of a prepubescent child and I'd be worried about ruining their innocence."

"That's a good point. Do you even think Luffy knows what sex is?"

"To be perfectly honest, I doubt it. Biology was never his strong point."

"I can vouch for that; I used to skip biology class with him all the time. What _is_ the first commandment of being in a rock band, then?"

"I wouldn't like to say, we're straying into potentially offensive territory there. Wouldn't want to piss off the fans more than we're already likely to."

"Piss them off how?" Kidd sat up, looking down at Law with confusion on his face. "We're not living in the 1800s anymore, being in a same-sex relationship is pretty normal."

"Maybe, but then again, if someone did have a problem they wouldn't pick a fight with _you_, would they? You're way too buff for that."

"Oh Law, flattery will get you everywhere." Kidd smirked, jokingly flexing his muscles. "I don't know, maybe my extreme buff-ness and your intimidating glare will stop the haters in their tracks? We make quite the team y'know."

Law smiled. "If only it were that easy. There's an anonymous setting on most sites for a reason, and that's so the 'haters', as you put it, can spew whatever crap they want and get away with it."

"Hmm, you have a point there. But it doesn't really matter what they say though, does it? At the end of the day, some moron behind his computer screen isn't gonna lead me to discovering that I'm actually a closet hetero. Same for you."

"I'm glad you have such faith in my sexuality."

"Of course I do. Really, though, what's the worst that anyone can say?"

"Nothing that'll affect us, I think we're agreed on that. I'm just worried that the other lads will pick up on it and things will start to get awkward."

"Why? They're like our brothers for god's sake, and I seriously doubt that any of them will have a problem with us being together."

"I'm more worried about them finding out through internet rumours before getting it from us directly."

"Oh yeah. You have a point."

"I always do, Mister Eustass." Law raised an eyebrow, as if incredulous that Kidd could ever doubt his intellect. "We should tell the rest of the band. And soon."

"Well, what about tomorrow on the tour bus? Most likely everyone will be too half-asleep to care anyway."

"That sounds good; we'll break the news tomorrow. Plus it means we can stop arranging times and sneaking around hotels after everyone else has gone to sleep to see each other."

"Brilliant. We're not exactly cut out to be spies, are we?"

"Not particularly. You stand out far too much, for one."

Kidd squinted his eyes at the vocalist. "That was a subtle dig about my hair colour, wasn't it?"

"How perceptive of you."

"Bastard."

"You _love_ it."

"Damn right I do. Otherwise I would have never gone through all this trouble to get with you."

"Aww, I'm touched." Law deadpanned sarcastically.

"I never claimed to be eloquent, that's why we leave the song writing to you."

"But you really want us to be together?"

"I really do. You're always worth the trouble."

Law smiled. "I didn't think you were capable of being so in touch with your emotions. Better hope nobody else finds out about that or they won't be scared of you anymore." The vocalist punched Kidd in the arm playfully before dragging him down to lie next to him again.

"To be honest, I don't give a shit what anyone else thinks."

"Neither do I. Now, enough talking, we've gotta be up at nine tomorrow morning."

"Ugh, don't remind me. I swear, the day Sanji lets us wake up at a reasonable time in the morning is the day – "

With a roll of his eyes, Law interrupted Kidd's spiel by pressing their lips together. Well, the vocalist never said he wanted to go to sleep, did he?


	10. Day Ten: Civic Hall Wolverhampton

**Kids of Heart – Chapter 10**

**A/N: **We haven't heard from the other band members for a while, so I figured it was time for some more bromantic action. Sorry that this chapter is a little short, but chapter 11 should be a lot longer to make up for it!

**Warning: **Strong language from the beginning. Heavily implied malexmale but nothing specific.

**Disclaimer: **Characters belong to Oda, and the song lyrics used belong to The Blackout and their record label. You should check 'em out, they're a quality band.

**CIVIC HALL WOLVERHAMPTON – 10****TH**** SEPTEMBER 2012**

Bright and early the next morning, the Kids of Heart emerged from their hotel and headed to the tour van. It was a surprisingly mild day for September, and the sky was a beautiful, clear blue. Not that any of the band members noticed this, of course; they were far too busy trying to cram their luggage into the van and get sat down so they could get back to sleep ASAP.

However, Sanji had other plans for them, and just as the tour van was setting off he clapped his hands to gain everyone's attention, blatantly ignoring the complaints of Bepo, who'd only just managed to fall asleep again.

"Ok guys, listen up. I don't really have much to say this morning, but Kidd and Law both have an announcement they want to make, and it's pretty important so _no, Luffy _you cannot sleep through it."

Sanji turned to Kidd and Law, giving up the floor, and they glanced at each other to settle their nerves before turning to face the rest of the band. "Well, uh, I don't know if you guys have noticed anything between us recently, but Law and I have been doing some thinking and now we're going out with each other. So, yeah, we're an item." Kidd's cheeks may have flushed the colour of his hair but his voice remained steady, smiling nervously as he put his hand on Law's knee for equal parts comfort and support.

"We've actually been going out for a couple of days, but we had to tiptoe around it for a bit whilst Sanji sorted out all the press that's gonna go with it." Law added.

"Is this anything to do with the rumours about you two floating around on the internet?" Zoro asked, raising his hands defensively as the bands' attention and scrutiny turned to him. "What? I like keeping up to date with my favourite music blogs, and they all mentioned it." He pointed an accusatory finger at the rest of the band. "To be honest, I'm surprised the rest of you never found out about them. They were part of a massive feature in the last Kerrang! edition."

"You may be overestimating _some_ peoples' sleuthing abilities." Killer pointed out, which gained a nod from Sanji.

"That, and failing to account for _my _influence. I wanted to make sure the majority of you didn't get hold of the rumours so that Kidd and Law could make a decision in their own time." Sanji raised an eyebrow at Zoro. "I wasn't _quite_ able to monitor your internet browser history, though, so that's why you slipped through the cracks there."

"So, what happens next? Are you gonna come out publicly?" Bepo asked, bouncing up and down in his chair excitedly.

Law nodded. "Yeah; as soon as we can, really. Just to stop the rumours spreading and getting too out of hand."

"On the second-last date of the tour, I've scheduled you all for a massive photo shoot and interview with Kerrang!, and because there's no way they won't address the rumours, I figure that'll be the best time for you to come out. So you've got a couple of days to prepare yourself for that." Sanji smiled, before pulling out his iPad and sitting back in his chair. "Well, if that's everything, feel free to go back to sleep or do whatever you want. Today's trip is only about an hour long so you'll have a load of free time before the sound check this afternoon."

The manager turned to the tablet in his lap, signalling that his announcements were over. However, whilst ten minutes ago the main priority for each band member was to get some sleep pronto, their new-found curiosity in Kidd and Law's relationship meant an interrogation, rather than rest, was in order.

~x~

A few hours later the sound check was taken care of, and Kidd sat side of stage tuning his emergency bass. The purpose of the check was to ensure that any problems with instruments or equipment formed in transit was dealt with before the band got up on stage for real; one of those issues being Kidd's favourite bass hadn't been stored properly, and one the strings needed to be replaced. Whilst it wasn't ideal, and his favourite bass was the favourite for a reason, he'd have to rely on the back-up for tonight.

The redhead was snapped out of his concentration as he heard the solid thud of heavy boots heading towards him, and he looked up to see Zoro in front of him, leaning back on a stack of amplifiers.

"Hey man, what's up?"

"D'you mind if I ask you something?" The guitarist looked unsure, unconfident, so Kidd placed his bass on a table to the side, to give Zoro his full attention. This sounded serious.

"Sure, go ahead. What do you wanna know?"

~x~

Sanji gathered the Kids of Heart, minus Kidd and Law for now, in a group huddle 10 minutes before show time.

"Your past couple of shows have been on top form, so make sure you all keep up the hard work tonight! I know we had a couple of issues during the sound check today, but they should all be sorted by now."

"Hey! Where's Kidd and Law?" Bepo asked, seemingly only just realising that they were absent.

"Probably doing gross couple stuff." Luffy replied, pulling a face.

"Believe me, I know Kidd and he's the _last_ person who'd wanna do couple stuff." Killer pointed out, gaining nods of agreement from the rest of the band.

"Just because they're going out now, doesn't mean they'll suddenly change into different people." Sanji added, acting as the voice of reason.

"They'd better not. We work perfectly as a band as it is." Zoro commented.

"Damn right we do!" Killer said confidently.

"It still surprises me that the two of them would get together in the first place, though." Zoro said, glancing around at the other band members to scope their reactions. "They seem so different!"

"I was surprised too. I mean, I've known Law for years and I only thought he liked girls…" Luffy scratched his head in confusion.

"He's a pretty private guy. He's my best friend, and I knew he wasn't straight, but I never said anything because I figured it's his business, and it doesn't really matter." Bepo said with a shrug.

"It _doesn't_ matter. Whilst we're on the topic, though, try not to tell anyone else about Kidd and Law getting together. News spreads quickly, and we want the official confirmation to come from them." Sanji said.

"That'd definitely be for the best. We don't need any more rumours and crazy drama; there's already plenty of that to go around." Killer said with a chuckle.

"I'm sure there won't be any drama! At least, I hope not…" Luffy trailed off, uncertainty creeping into his voice.

"Don't worry about there being any problems, guys." Law said from behind them, and the group huddle disbanded to see him and Kidd stood together in the doorway. After being beckoned over by waving hands they soon joined the rest of the Kids of Heart.

"Both of us know what we're getting into, and we both know that the band and the music will always be our priority." Kidd said. "So if either of us _ever_ act distracted or anything like that, you'd better snap us out of it, ok?"

"You've got a deal!" Luffy said with a grin, drawing them into a hug and somehow managing to get his arms around everyone.

"So we'll still be the same band?" Bepo asked.

"Definitely!" Was the emphatic shout from the couple in question. "Now let's get out on stage and show everyone what we're made of!"


End file.
